Outrun - Cyberpunk LitRPG

I looked back over my setup, feeling surprisingly confident in my plan. Rather, plans. I stood, hidden in the deepest shadow I could find, just inside of the cave leading back to the rest of the Underground.

I traced the blue and silver bracelet on my wrist, caressing the remaining fox charm on the Fox Charm Bracelet. With a thought, the bracelet vanished back into a plume of ghastly blue flames. It took a while to get it all set up, but now it was all ready.

The chasm vanished, buried underneath a platform of seamless rock. The cavern now looked as though it had a slightly rough, but still seamless floor. Almost like a boss fight arena, now that I think about it… or that might just be my nerves talking.

My phone beeped nearly silently, alerting me that an hour had passed since I first set up. A sigh escaped me as I took a few final breaths to calm myself down. I was ready. I hope- no, I was ready. Plans A-F were good to go, and then hopefully I wouldn’t need any more than that.

“Thanks,” I whispered silently to Feras as I took out the canteen and walked over to my designated spot just near the hidden drop into the chasm. I tipped it over, dumping its contents out.

Blood dumped out of the canteen, splattering down onto the rock below me. It splattered splendidly, crashing around into a fair-sized puddle before the stream cut off. I only had an hour for it to generate blood, so there really wasn’t all that much. Before banishing it, I set the thing to produce gasoline.

As I raced back into the cover of the cave, I heard movement. It was faint; a small clattering of bones as a mountain in the distance shifted. Then came the cracking, the horrid splintering of dry bones as something weighing far too much put its weight on them. I couldn’t help but think what it could easily do to me if my plans failed.

A scream, a blood-curdling screech that froze the blood in my veins even without help from Cold-Blooded, erupted from deep within the cave on the other side of the wall. The hair raised all over my body as instinct struggled with logic. Some long dormant part of my mind tried to warn me; a predator woke up.

Wendigos were extremely sensitive to the scent of blood. Specifically human blood, though anything probably would’ve worked. The scent, although fairly weak to me, acted like catnip for the Wendigo, drawing it out of its hibernation as it scented something delicious in the air. At least, according to what I read on the Net.

I could smell it before I saw it. Its rotten flesh radiated such a strong scent that it even managed to partially carry through my helmet’s filter. With the rotten scent came a faint feeling. A coldness that seeped to my bones, and a hunger that sought to devour the world. The hunger, gnawing in its awfulness, worked into me even though the rotten scent of the Wendigo made bile rise in the back of my throat.

It took barely a few moments before a shape emerged from the cave. Long, gangly limbs hung down as it skittered across the ground on all fours. Bones moved with it, almost as if a white trail of destruction. Its limbs, supported by a mass of ever-shifting bones, pounded the ground with each step.

Its spine protruded sharp enough to cut through its stretched-out skin. Now that it was free from the mounds of bones, I could see scars and chunks missing from its emaciated flesh. Irregular scarring from bite marks covered the beast, though I had a feeling they were self-inflicted.

Through the gaps in the skull grafted to its head, I could see its horrid face. Deeply sunken eyes, mere beads of a frenzied yellow light, hid under the orbital sockets of the skull it wore. Its mouth showed sharp teeth and fangs freely. The lips that once covered its rotting teeth had long since been devoured by the flesh-starved beast. Blood-red pus festered from old wounds and dripped from the Wendigo's eyes.

In a moment of sheer stupidity, I switched on Aetherial Perception. Instantly, insane vertigo hit me as I saw the corruption that other ghouls had. Only, this time was much, much worse. If the normal ghouls were pebbles, and the mutant was a boulder, then the awful creature before me could only be a mountain of diseased Aether.

My breath caught. My lungs refused to work as I took in the full sight of the warped Aether surrounding the Wendigo. A chilling, bone-rattling cold seemed to envelop the surroundings as if just the creature’s presence was a call to terror. Not just terror though- the ambient hunger grew as it approached.

I couldn’t even see the creature. A massive whirlpool of darkness and corruption seemed to devour the surrounding Aether, leaving a trail of fractured space behind it. The fractures looked as though they were attempting to mend themselves, though the effort fell relatively flat as a thin line of darkness kept the space from healing.

For the briefest of moments, as I stared at the voidal abomination that devoured its surroundings, I swear I felt something stare back. In that briefest of glimpses, pure, unadulterated madness assaulted my mind as I felt something in me start to crack. Aetherial Perception shut off on its own, freeing me from the splintering presence of the demonic beast.

I felt the instant desire to flee. To run away. Only cool rationale kept me still as the creature raised its head and sniffed around in a deeply unsettling vibrato. Wendigos were fast. It was almost guaranteed to catch me if I tried to run.

The Wendigo stalked forward, slowly edging closer to the hidden edge of the chasm. It moved slowly, almost as if feeling something was wrong. Its mangled hand, warped into a disturbing mess, dug into the rocks easily as it paused just before the drop even though the illusion covered it.

If the creature had lips, it would’ve been frowning as it stared forward to the blood just within reach. Its eyes, which blazed with bestial frenzy, faded slightly as a fragment of intelligence peeked through for one long, nerve-rattling moment.

The wicked being howled, tearing a clawed hand through the illusion. The bones surrounding the hand extended further than the actual limb almost like a mace. I felt a burning in the back of my head as the false ground flickered, fading away to reveal the pit. The Minor Illusion from the Fox Charm Bracelet was already stretched thin to do all that I wanted, so it offered no resistance as the illusion was destroyed.

And just like that, Plan A was done. It relied too heavily on the creature’s intelligence being microscopic, so I didn’t think it’d work in the first place. The creature no longer hesitated. It raced to the far side of the room where the walkway was, intent on crossing over the blood stain. Its gait was a mixture of lunging and stepping, so much so that there were moments when none of its limbs even touched the ground.

It was during one such moment that it crossed over the walkway. It’s limbs stretched down to grasp the ground-

Only to hit nothing as it fell through Plan B. The entire side wall and walkway faded away as the illusion was shattered. In actuality, the real walkway and wall were far off to the side, leaving a sizable gap of chasm. The terrible beast plummeted with a malevolent screech, falling out of sight.

I grabbed my pistol, time slowing down as I carefully moved to the edge, checking where the Wendigo was. It had fallen far in the short moments of its free fall, though that didn’t matter all that much as its clawed hand dug into the side of the chasm. It hung three-quarters of the way down, its eyes radiating hatred as it scrambled to stabilize itself.

I took a breath and then rooted through my bag for a Molotov. I lit the thing, approximated the distance and arc I would need, and then launched the flaming bottle with all my might.

Something in my shoulder pulled awkwardly at the motion, though I ignored it as I watched the bottle sail through the chasm. The throw was too high, hitting just above the Wendigo on a rock outcropping. The bottle shattered, sending glass everywhere as the gasoline caught fire. It dripped down onto the creature, causing it to scream with all its might even though only the bones making up its armor burned.

I quickly threw my last two Molotovs in quick succession, though they only seemed to piss off the Wendigo more than anything. By now, it had managed to grab back into the rock face, turning into a hanging fireball of bones clinging to the chasm’s wall. Deep, deep below, the water churned as the fragments of the Molotovs hit.

I switched to one of two grenades, pulling it free and lining it up just the same as the Molotov. The twinge in my shoulder turned painful as I pulled the pin and chunked the explosive. Although it was smaller, the device weighed a bit more than my improvised Molotovs.

It missed, hitting the chasm’s face just below the Wendigo and exploding in a blast of metal fragments and rock shards. Although the explosion itself missed, the fragments easily hit the underside of the beast, though most bounced off its bone plating. The real effect came from the shockwave, which caused the ravenous creature to pause its ascent momentarily to stabilize its grip.

That moment was all it took as I tossed the last grenade I had on me. It flew through the air, hitting exactly where I intended. It dropped right in the gap between the Wendigo and the chasm’s wall, sliding down to cause the most destruction.

The grenade exploded beautifully, the bright light seeming to stun the Wendigo as it launched off where it grappled the wall. Fragments of bone fell all around the creature as it plummeted down to the water below.

It twisted, managing to even out its fall. The bones all over its body shifted, gliding along its limbs as they seemed to morph. I was too far away to make out the exact details, but I watched in horror as a whip made of bones flung out from the now-naked beast’s arm, latching onto the stone.

Its fall stopped entirely as its momentum rocked the Wendigo in and out of view. The creature hung just inside the gargantuan cave with the subterranean lake, its form partially obscured by the hazy mist that covered the place.

The creature screeched again, the sound greatly diminished by the distance between us. I reached for my rifle, desperate to get this over with. It was weakened now, its bone armor gone entirely into the whip. Now was my chance.

Just as time slowed once more thanks to my grip on the rifle, something parted the waters just below the Wendigo. The dark waters obscured its shape as a tendril reached up quick enough to look normal even through Dexterity’s effect.

The Wendigo’s reaction was slow as it twisted and turned on its bone whip. Before it could do much of anything, the tendril wrapped around its leg and pulled. The ghastly beast put up a good fight, desperately hanging onto its bone whip, but eventually, its strength failed it as it was pulled into the darkness.

I watched as it disappeared below the waters, half in happiness that the Wendigo was gone and half in horror at whatever pulled it down. The waters far below thrashed for several long moments, though they eventually went still. Patches of flesh floated up to the surface, though even those quickly submerged into the dark waters.

I flicked on Aetherial Perception in just enough time to watch the voidal black hole of corruption seemingly fade away. The Aether still wasn’t healed of the corruption entirely, though it looked as though the veil was slowly pulling together from where the ravenous monstrosity fractured it.

My vision returned to normal as the bone whip still attached to the rocks cracked and splintered, turning back into normal bones. I collapsed backward as a stupified laugh escaped me.

「Request - Worthy Opponent - Completed

Kill(?) the Wendigo

Reward: 1 Skill Point and a Perk Point」

After several moments, I flicked on Cold-Blooded to help calm down and get back to it. First things first, I went and disassembled plans C and D. It took a bit to get the det-cord safely back down from where it lined the entrance into the cavern.

It took even longer to disassemble the hastily built net for the last of my microwire. The stuff was so damn useful. I really need to look at getting more of it. I ran through it entirely too quickly.

While I was busy doing that, I glanced through my status for the first time in a while.

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox’s Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Skill Points: 1

Free Perk Points: 1

Tracking - 7

Stalk

Tech - 7

Eidetic Schematic

Stealth - 9

Fox’s Paw

Cold-Blooded

Sleight of Hand - 9

Hidden Hands

Ambidextrous

Perception - 7

Aetherial Perception

Net - 2

Melee Weapons - 3

Intimidation - 3

Firearm - 4

Dexterity

First Aid - 4

Calming

Evasion - 3

Driving - 7

Land Vehicles

Deception - 7

Honest Face

Criminology - 7

Cues

Concealment - 8

Lethargic Presence

Hidden Weapon

Brawling - 1

Accounting - 1

Request Board - (5)」

Honestly? Not all that bad. I’d have to sit down and really think about where I should put my new Perk point.

As for the skills, it was a bit easier. I had a bunch of skills at level seven. If I wanted to, I could instantly level them up with my new Skill Point and get a new Perk. Or I could continue to double down on the Perks that I would need the knowledge for.

For instance, Firearms might not be a bad idea to level up. I’d never actually received proper training with a gun, so it might help to lean into it a bit more.

If anything though, I was more tempted to level Tech. Getting it to eight would be a relief, but every Skill Point I put into Tech majorly boosted my knowledge of how everything worked together. It had been a while since I last spent a Skill Point, but I’d probably get the most use out of Tech.

Or I could get Evasion up to four. Getting a Perk for that would probably help my survivability. Hmm…

I could also look through the list of Skills again and see if one doesn’t catch my eye now that I know what I’m doing a bit better. Surely there was something else that I could start leveling.